As Israel commemorated its Holocaust Remembrance Day, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) embassy to the Jewish state took to Twitter on Thursday to deliver its own message on the somber occasion.
"We share our condolences to the victims of the Holocaust," the embassy said in Hebrew, English and Arabic, adding that "in their memory, the UAE affirms that the human values on which it was founded will remain firm."
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President Reuven Rivlin welcomes United Arab Emirates ambassador to Israel Mohamed Al Khaja
(Photo: GPO)
"Love, coexistence and tolerance are among the basics that humanity needs for peace to prevail," the embassy said.
While charges of Holocaust denialism have frequently been leveled against the Arab public discourse, recent years have witnessed tectonic shifts and efforts to amend such rifts.
Among those was the historic visit of the secretary-general of the Mecca-based Muslim World League, Sheik Mohammad Al-Issa, to Auschwitz in early 2020.
The sheik visited the site with a group of 24 other influential Muslim clerics and led a prayer held there, also meeting with the local Jewish community.
Further promoting the trend, the UAE became the first Arab state to hold an official Holocaust Remembrance Day event, featuring a delegation from Israel and Gulf social media influencers.
On Thursday, the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities is also expected to host a webinar with Muslim youth from the Emirates and Bahrain who had visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum.